Page 20 of The Fifth Avenue Apartment

Sophie nodded. That was a little over a week away. “That works for me.”

Caroline walked through the living room and stood by the large bay window that looked out over Fifth Avenue. “This is such an amazing location. I can’t wait to move in.”

“It will be fun to have you both here. I could use the company,” Sophie admitted.

“It will be fun! I can’t wait,” Caroline said excitedly.

“It really is a great place,” Tessa agreed.

“What are you up to tonight?” Caroline asked.

“Max invited me to go out with him and his friends. We’re going to dinner somewhere.”

Caroline and Tessa exchanged glances. “Is it a date? Is he no longer with that model?” Tessa asked.

Sophie laughed. “No! Truthfully, I think Max just felt a little sorry for me. I was whining the other night that I didn’t have any friends in the city yet.”

“Well, you have us,” Caroline said with a smile.

Tessa looked thoughtful. “How serious are they? Max is kind of cute. You should go for it,” she advised.

“It’s not like that. We’re just friends. And they seem pretty serious. She just travels a lot.”

“Well, have fun. We’ll see you at work on Monday,” Caroline said. She and Tessa left and after they were gone, Sophie made herself a cup of tea and settled on the sofa to read for a bit before she had to get ready to go out. She was glad that they’d both liked the apartment. Though she couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t like it. For them to pay what they were currently paying was a deal—too good for either of them to pass up. Sophie knew she could have charged more, but she didn’t want strangers living in her apartment. She felt comfortable with Caroline and Tessa and thought it might be fun to have them as roommates. She looked forward to the company. As much as she loved the apartment, it was big for one person, and she felt a little lonely roaming around it now that her aunt was gone.

Max texted her that they had dinner reservations at seven thirty and that they should leave by seven. He told her the name of the restaurant and it wasn’t familiar, so Sophie googled it. It was a trendy Italian place, not overly formal, but not casual either. And this most definitely wasn’t a date, so Sophie debated what to wear. She finally settled on a pair of slim black dress pants and a charcoal gray cashmere sweater with a bright pink scarf for a pop of color. She wore her favorite soft leather boots that gave her a little bit of a boost but weren’t too high of a heel. And she curled her hair slightly so that it was like a loose, beachy wave. A slick of rosy lipstick, blush and mascara and she was ready.

Max knocked on her door at seven and he whistled softly when he saw her. “You look great. Now this isn’t a fixup, but one of the guys coming with us is single. Jared and his girlfriend broke up a little over a month ago and we’re just now getting him out there. He’s a nice guy, maybe you guys will hit it off. If not, no worries.”

Sophie hesitated. “You’re sure this isn’t a setup?”

Max grinned. “It’s totally not. It’s just a data point that out of our group going tonight, he’s newly single.”

It was about a twenty-minute walk to the restaurant, but it was a clear, cool night. Perfect for walking. They arrived a few minutes early and several of the group was already there. The others arrived soon after. Once everyone was there, they went inside and were seated at their reserved table. There were eight of them in total and Max introduced her to everyone. Sophie smiled and nodded and hoped she’d remember their names. There were two couples, Anna and Lori and their boyfriends. The girls worked in publishing and knew Max as he was with the same publisher. His friend Eric, was a long-time friend from college. His girlfriend was working that evening as a bartender at a club nearby and the other guy was the one Max had mentioned earlier, Jared. They had worked together years ago, before Max wrote his first book.

“I was a mutual fund accountant, if you can believe it,” Max said. “They had no business hiring me to do anything with numbers. I think I lasted all of six months.”

Jared laughed. “It was that last wire transfer that did it.”

Max nodded and laughed. “I put an extra zero in and sent a million dollars of the client’s money instead of a hundred thousand. They were not happy. Can’t say that I blame them.”

“They fired you?” Sophie couldn’t imagine making such a big mistake.

“They did. They wisely suggested that maybe financial services wasn’t a great fit. But at the time, it was the only job I could get.”

“What did you do?” Sophie asked.

“I went back to bartending. I’d done that all through college and it was good money. And I’d always liked to stay up late and sleep in. I wrote my book during the day, before I headed into work. Luckily it worked out.” He grinned.

“Understatement of the year,” Jared said.

“You still work in mutual fund accounting?” Sophie asked.

“I do. I’m an external wholesaler now. I sell insurance products to financial planners and advisors,” Jared said.

“Basically, he plays a lot of golf,” Max said. “You have to admit it is a cushy job.”

Jared grinned. “It doesn’t suck.”

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